


who, what, when, where, why?

by sarahlu



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, just.... so self-indulgent, this is from my soft brain to yours
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 11:29:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21118052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahlu/pseuds/sarahlu
Summary: i don't think i need to provide any justification for wanting to write something as fucking soft as this.enjoy!!





	who, what, when, where, why?

**Author's Note:**

> i don't think i need to provide any justification for wanting to write something as fucking soft as this. 
> 
> enjoy!!

The moment he hit the send button on the tweet, Babe immediately thought he was the stupidest person on the planet, but he was getting desperate. He had had his name for a year and a half, almost two and he had not seen hide nor hair of Eugene Roe. 

When the name appeared on his collarbone the day he turned eighteen, Babe couldn’t say he was surprised. He had known that name would belong to a man since he was eight and properly learned about the names that appear on your body when you come of age. He remembers his mom telling him that she was going to love him no matter what when he told her his inclination at twelve.

He remembers waiting until the clock struck midnight on his eighteenth birthday, and holding his breath waiting for something to appear, and nearly crying in relief when in semi-cursive scrawl the name “Eugene Roe” appeared across his chest, just above where he imagined his heart was. 

He should have been content knowing that his match was out there and they would find each other when they were supposed to; but patience was not a trait any of the Heffron’s possessed, so when after two years he had not found this guy he took matters into his own hands. 

His younger sister was reclined on his bed, acting as the art director for his impromptu photoshoot, telling him how to angle so the light would hit the mark best.

He decided to do this after her birthday the week before and she had her mate ready and waiting for her in the Julian kid from up the street. Babe had to admit he saw that coming what with them growing up together and how they always seemed to gravitate towards each other. He was a good kid and he trusted him to be good to his sister. Though that development did spur his current action. 

“Ok, I think I got a good one.” He said and handed the phone to the teenager currently engrossed in an entirely other conversation. 

“Mary Catherine! Please, I am begging you!” He whined almost petulantly, which just earned him an eye roll but she took the phone and inspected the photo. 

“Honestly Babe, this one is really great. Like you have the golden hour light bouncing off your hair and making your freckles pop. If this doesn’t get your man well then, you might be S.O.L kid.” She said as she stood. She craned up on her tiptoes to ruffle his hair before exiting the room. 

Babe put the photo in a tweet then stalled as he thought of a caption. Did he present a call to action to his followers? Say ‘if you know this man, send him my way!’? Or should he keep it subtle? He decided subtlety was his best route. He had seen enough people become memes trying too hard with their social media search, he wanted to come off as unbothered by it even though he was very well even more desperate than the ones just asking for what they wanted. 

With a selfie taken to display the name on his chest, he typed out the simple phrase. 

@callmebabe: To Eugene Roe, Wherever You Are…”

he hit send and waited. 

On the other side of Philadelphia, a twenty-three-year-old Paramedic is on his break at the hospital when a nurse friend of his accosts him where he is finally taking a breather. They had been at the scene of a five-car pileup for almost four hours and all he needed was a goddamn minute, and he intended to tell her so. 

“Gene! Gene!” She exclaims, waving her phone around in the air on her approach. He sighs deeply, he really did love Renée but she had just a tad more zest for life than he did. 

“Can I help you?” He drawls lazily when she finally comes to a stop in front of him, and she is nearly vibrating with excitement. 

“More like I am helping you, my dear!” She quips and holds the phone in front of his face and it takes a moment before the screen comes into focus but when he does, his heart falls to his ass. 

There, on the screen in front of him, was a very attractive young man and his name was imbedded on the torso of said attractive young man. THAT was Edward Heffron. He suddenly felt like he was cemented to the floor. He never thought he would actually see that. 

The name on his chest, in the same place as the one he was currently looking at, suddenly felt white-hot. He had known, abstractly, that the name on his chest was supposed to mean something but with nothing to go on as to who it actually was he had never really put much stock into finding his soulmate. Sure he had done the Google and Facebook search from time to time but never made any real progress. 

Now he had a face to go with his name, he knew he existed. Now what? The guy could be anywhere. This thought quickly deflated his heart almost as soon as it had filled with hope. 

“Ok. How are you helping me?” He asks and Renée’s smile widens. She taps the screen excitedly. 

“Look! Look at the location!” Oh hell, really? Well, there went him not being able to find him because of the distance, they lived in the same damn city. 

Had he still been in his backwater Louisiana town, the same place he had been when the name first appeared when he really thought finding him would never be an option, he would have seen the location tag of Philadelphia and silently lamented what would never be. 

The knowledge that his soulmate has been living mere miles from him for the past five years stirred up a whole host of emotions. 

He was excited first and foremost, the fact that whoever or whatever was above had picked them for each other and put them in place to find one another made his heart pound in a good way. He was also terrified, he had heard stories of soulmates being terrible and destructive forces in each other's lives. He had to believe that Edward Heffron, his Edward, wouldn’t be that way for him and the same for him towards Edward. 

Call it intuition, but he got the feeling looking at the picture again they would be the opposite of that, he could already feel his soul soaring almost as if it was on a search through the city on its own without his body to find this boy. 

Renée was watching him when he snapped out of his thoughts. She had a smug smile and Eugene rolled his eyes at her. 

“Ok fine, yes, you found him for me. How am I supposed to get in contact with him, not like I have a twitter.” He said, hopping back up into the open area of the ambulance he was resting in. “And I’m not making one just for that.” He said, pointing at her phone. She huffed and rolled her eyes. 

“Honnêtement Eugene, tu me fais faire tout le travail.” She muttered, her fingers flying over the keyboard. 

“Hey what the hell is that supposed to mean? And what are ya doin’?” He asks, frowning. She finally answers when she is done typing. 

“Expect a phone call or text. I don’t know, he is your soulmate.” Renée says breezily and bounces back inside, leaving a gobsmacked Eugene staring after her. He can’t say he would have taken that much initiative himself, he wonders what she said though and if she sent a picture, and if she did was it a good one or one that makes him look like a complete tool bag. Before he has too much time to dwell on it, a call comes in for them and he had to put it out of his mind. 

The Diet Coke that Babe had in his mouth now covered his laptop screen and keyboard. Honestly, he had not been expecting that quick of a turn around on his post. It wasn’t like he had a crazy popular account, just friends and some friends of friends really. So when a message from a girl he didn’t know came in claiming she not only knew his soulmate but was close personal friends came to him, he was more than a little freaked.

“Jesus Christ Babe!” Bill yelled, throwing himself back in his chair and out of the splash zone. He looked at Babe like he had grown a second head while he waited for him to explain his actions. 

“So you know that picture I posted?” Babe began and Bill nodded, “Yeah, your little thirst trap, I rememba’.” Babe didn’t acknowledge his friends' jab and continued. 

“I uh, guess he is like, well here. In Philly, if this chick is to be believed.” He said, examining the message again.

@renlem19: Hi! This is going to sound crazy but I know Eugene Roe, or Gene as he prefers to be called. Actually, as I write this I am sitting here with him now. He saw your picture and thinks you are very handsome because I saw him blush looking at it. Anyways, here is his number 215-xxx-xxxx and yes that is a Philadelphia area code ;) also here is a picture of him. In my opinion, you two will be very cute together.  
Bye for now! Renée 

And with the message was a picture of probably the most gorgeous guy he had ever seen, thick black hair he wanted to run his fingers through, glassy blue eyes, full lips he couldn’t wait to kiss; he was perfect, utterly perfect. 

“Looks like ya lucked out there, Babe,” Bill said approvingly, leaning over to see as well. Babe shoved him away because this wasn’t something he wanted to share. He saved the picture quickly to his phone then froze. 

“So… what should I do now?” He asked and Bill rolled his eyes. “Ya call him, dumbass!” He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and to be fair it was to everyone but Babe. 

“He might still be at work, it is the middle of the day…” he muttered, looking for any excuse to not do that right now. For as anxious and impatient as he was to find this guy, now that he had him in his vicinity he had no idea how to proceed because he honestly was not expecting to get this far with it. 

“Christ, then shoot him a text or somethin’, I don’t know but ya got what ya wanted, right? This was the payoff all along?” Babe hated when Bill made points. 

“Ok yeah but… what do I even say? ‘Hey soulmate, want to catch a movie sometime?’” Babe asked sarcastically. “Yeah, exactly that, but maybe not a movie on the first date try coffee or somethin’ where you can talk.” He offered. Babe nearly threw his phone down and covered his face with his hands. 

He spent an hour crafting his message. ‘Hi’ or ‘Hey’ seemed too casual, and he started several messages pouring his heart out and expressing his feelings at finally having the chance for them. In the end, he went with Bill’s plan. 

“Just KISS it.” Babe looked at him blankly. “Keep It Simple, Stupid. Ask him for coffee like I said earlier. Ok, got Sobel’s class can’t miss it or he’ll fuckin’ kick me out of the course.” And he left Babe at their library table.

Babe: Hi, I’m Edward. Would you want to get coffee sometime this week? 

His heart rate sped up as it sent and finally said delivered. At least he had an iPhone. After five minutes there was no reply. Babe had to shut it off completely or he would drive himself insane waiting. 

He finally turned it back on when he got home from his classes. Drained of energy and lacking the motivation to do anything besides sit and veg for the rest of the night, he turned it back on as he heated up the leftovers his Mom saved for him. 

He nearly dropped the Tupperware of mashed potatoes when he saw the text message sitting at the top of his inbox.

Eugene: Hi Edward, I’m Gene. What about dinner instead? 

“MARY CATHERINE!” He yelled for his sister. He looked back down, smiling, and typed his reply. 

Gene stood outside the restaurant that he let Edward, or Babe as he has found out he prefers to be called, pick since he was the city native. They started texting Monday night, talking on the phone by Tuesday, and they facetimed after his last twelve-hour shift of the week the night before on Thursday. 

He thought he would have been apprehensive about that sort of pace, that maybe they would have just talked a little while longer, but he supposes that is the nature of these things; your person is your person so what difference does it make? 

Gene was anxious in a good way though, to see the pretty brown eyes and soft looking ginger locks that he cursed the distance and his phone screen from preventing him from being able to run his fingers through. And his smile, his goddamn smile that was toothy and goofy that he hoped to see on his face as often as possible. 

“Gene?” He heard the distinct lilt of a voice he was only just beginning to know. He turned and saw Babe smiling as wide as could be as he approached. Finally, he came to a stop when they were toe to toe. Babe had a bit of height on Gene but not enough to hinder anything, certainly not the kiss that was suddenly at the forefront of his mind. 

Of course, Babe was on the same page, because the first thing out of his mouth wasn’t a ‘Hello’ or a ‘How ya doin’?’ It was “Can I kiss you?” 

And as their lips drew together, they both smiled into one another, finally right where they were always meant to be.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr: lieblinggs.tumblr.com 
> 
> its dumb but we have a lot of fun!!


End file.
